A stand by Wisconsin Republicans against a
massive effort to oust them from power could reverberate across the
country as the battle over union rights and the conservative
revolution heads toward the 2012 presidential race.

Democrats succeeded in taking two Wisconsin state Senate seats
away from Republican incumbents on Tuesday but fell one short of
what they needed to seize majority control of the chamber.

Republicans saw it as a big win for Gov. Scott Walker and an
affirmation of his conservative agenda, the hallmark of which has
been his successful push to strip most collective bargaining rights
from public workers.

Walker told The Associated Press on Wednesday that even though
his party managed to retain control of the Legislature, he thinks
the recall election results show that voters want both parties to
work together on jobs and the economy.

"People still want us to focus on those two priorities," Walker said. "They want us to work together."

Walker said he planned to meet soon with leaders from both
parties to discuss areas where they could work together. The
invitation was greeted with skepticism from Assembly Democratic
Minority Leader Peter Barca.

"It's bipartisan action, not bipartisan rhetoric that people
are looking for," Barca said.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who will
preside over a razor thin 17-16 GOP majority should two Democratic
senators manage to win their own recall elections next week, echoed
Walker's talking points.

"Republicans are going to continue doing what we promised the
people of Wisconsin - improve the economy and get Wisconsin moving
back in the right direction," Fitzgerald said in a prepared
statement after the victory.

Democrats and union leaders tried to make the best of the
historic GOP wins. There had been only 13 other successful recalls
of state-level office holders nationwide since 1913.

"The fact of the matter remains that, fighting on Republican
turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda," said Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate.

Phil Neuenfeldt, the president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO,
said voters sent a message that there is a growing movement to
reclaim the middle class.

"Let's be clear, anyway you slice it, this is an unprecedented
victory," he said.

Still, it was far less than what Democrats set out to achieve.
And while they still plan to move ahead with recalling Walker,
maintaining momentum for that effort, which can't start until
November, will be difficult.

Sen. Luther Olsen, one of the four Republicans who won, said he
hoped the victories would "take the wind out of the recall for
Walker, but I'm not sure."

Tate, the Democratic Party chairman, said Wednesday that
Democratic gains showed how vulnerable Walker is and that the
recall effort would continue with the election taking place in
November, timed to coincide with expected high Democratic turnout
in the presidential race.

Walker said he would "leave it up to the pundits to decide"
what the recall elections meant for efforts targeting him, but he
believed he ultimately will be judged on whether he can fulfill his
campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs in the state over four
years.

Four Republican senators held on to their seats Tuesday. They
were Olsen and Sens. Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, Rob Cowles of
Allouez, and Alberta Darling of River Hills. Two Republicans -
Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Dan Kapanke of La Crosse - were
defeated. Former deputy mayor of Oshkosh Jessica King beat Hopper
and Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Shilling beat Kapanke.

A ninth senator, Democrat Dave Hansen of Green Bay, won his
recall election last month.

Collectively, more than $31 million has been spent on the
recalls, largely from outside conservative groups, unions and
others.

Republican and Democratic strategists were leery of reading too
much into the results heading into next year's campaign in which
Wisconsin is expected to be a key swing state.

Democratic strategist Chris Lehane said the results could
provide "some early radar warnings" about the 2012 races, and
that he expects the conservatives "to fight back like an angry
badger."

Lehane said Wisconsin's tumultuous year since November's
elections has been a microcosm of the current "rollercoaster" era
of U.S. politics.

Wisconsin voters had mixed emotions about the necessity of the
recalls.

Wayne Boland, 41, a Whitefish Bay man who works in marketing for
a medical equipment maker, said he voted for the Republican Darling
"not because I entirely agree with everything the Republican Party
has done or the governor" but because they're working toward
addressing the state's problems.

Republicans won control of both houses of the Legislature and
the governor's office in the 2010 election just nine months ago.

Democrats had hoped enough wins in the recalls would have
allowed them to block the Republican agenda, but the GOP will hold
on to their majorities that have allowed them to rapidly pass bills
through the Legislature.

The elections were also closely watched in other states
undergoing similar partisan battles.

A coalition of unions and labor-friendly groups fighting a
Wisconsin-style collective bargaining overhaul in Ohio said the
outcome of the recall elections will have little bearing on whether
Ohio's law is repealed this fall.

The effort in Wisconsin was about recalling specific Republicans
who voted for the anti-union bill while the push in Ohio is about
repealing the law itself. That makes it difficult to compare the
two states, said We Are Ohio spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas.

Supporters of the Ohio law also are distancing their state from
the fight in Wisconsin.

"We're not focused on Wisconsin, and Ohioans aren't looking to
another state to tell them where they should stand," said Jason
Mauk, spokesman for Building a Better Ohio, a group defending the
collective bargaining law.

Ohioans will vote Nov. 8 on whether to accept or reject the
union-limiting law signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich in March
that limits bargaining rights for more than 350,000 police,
firefighters, teachers and other government employees.